My Reading Room: Feb 4, 2010

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Cleaning My Shelves: Big YA Giveaway

I am in desperate need to make some room on my bookshelves and what better way than to giveaway some books! This giveaway is all young adult titles that have been recently reviewed by me (or will be soon) and I would like to send them out to new homes. See the actual titles below (some are ARCs, some are books - all are in great shape).

All About Us #6: The Chic Shall Inherit the Earth: An All About Us Novel

Katy's New World (Katy Lambright Series, The)

Camp Club Girls & the Mystery at Discovery Lake

Sydney's D.C. Discovery (Camp Club Girls)

Blog Tour, Review and Giveaway: Searching for Tina Turner by Jacqueline E. Luckett

Searching for Tina Turner by Jacqueline E. Luckett

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Publish Date: January 27, 2010

Hardcover, 320 pages

My Review:
Rating: 8.5/10

I really enjoyed this book. I think one of my favorite things was when lyrics to Tina Turner songs were mentioned, I found myself singing along.

I don't read much women's fiction (reviewing has me branching out), so this book feels fresh and new to me. At first I wasn't sure what I thought of the book. Was Lena giving up on her marriage to easy? I mean I have some similar thoughts - I do lose myself at times and Lena's mom's advice does ring true to someone in a good relationship with some bumps, but not to someone in Lena's case. So I found myself sinking into the story and liking Lena more and more.

I found the premise and Lena's search interesting. It kept me turning the pages and Lena's character kept me engaged. I liked the look at the different people in her life. Lulu, her mother and her old school ways, Bobbie, her sister and her new ways and her friends. All made interesting contributions to the story.

An enjoyable women's fiction story of how taking that chance just might be the answer you are looking for. I didn't feel like the book condoned divorce or anything like that. I think it was just a way of showing how women can get stuck in a rut whether it's a bad marriage, work or just life and sometimes we need to take a chance to get out of that rut and really make our life what it should be.

Characterization:   1.5/2.0
Plot:                     1.5/2.0
Writing:                1.75/2.0
Attention-holding: 0.75/1.0
Ending:                 1.0/1.0
Believable:            1.0/1.0
Genre:                  1.0/1.0
Rating:                8.5/10.0

About the Book:

On the surface, Lena Spencer appears to have it all. She and her wealthy husband Randall have two wonderful children, and they live a life of luxury. In reality, however, Lena finds that happiness is elusive. Randall is emotionally distant, her son has developed a drug habit, and her daughter is disgusted by her mother's "overbearing behavior." When Randall decides that he's had enough of marriage counseling, he offers his wife an ultimatum: "Be grateful for all I've done for you or leave." Lena, realizing that money can't solve her problems and that her husband is no longer the man she married, decides to choose the latter.